Page 60 of Dark Master's Redemption

“Then watch me burn this place to the ground, with you and all my Vampires inside it. Rather than let you take even one more of them into your eternal torture.” A slow roil of my blackest aura unfurls from me now as I show Florian how deadly serious I am.

“My, my. Temper, Quindici.” But Florian is intrigued as he watches me. “You really are serious, aren’t you?”

“Test me and find out,” I snarl, spreading my black auric wings wide like two poisonous serpents from my spine.

Florian watches those massive wings spread out, which I keep carefully clear of my Dark Fae fire now. But he doesn’t know my Fae magic was ever still a part of me; my fires barely ever rose when I was still Kissed to Emiliana, and never when I was alone with Florian.

He only knows me like this; the darkest side of Quinn that tortures, kills, and takes. I see it light him up like a storm now as he shudders.

Wanting me with a heedless abandon.

“I don’t believe we need to be vicious in all this.” Florian waves his hand now at Julian, who’s been silent and waiting beside me this entire time. A long-time guard of Florian’s, he already knows my history with the Master of Monaco; as Florian waves to him, Julian straightens, alert for instructions. “Julian. Please bring the seven Vampires I have enthralled to my unearthly delights to the front of the Hotel at once. We shall meet you there.”

“Yes, Master.” Turning abruptly, Julian is out the door without summoning any other guards to replace him. It leaves Florian and me alone as we stare at each other in my foyer.

With a genteel wave of his hand, Florian invites me to accompany him out the door as we go to meet my enslaved Vampires at the front of the Hotel. Though he’s in a dressing gown, Florian has a shirt and slacks on underneath, and doesn’t bother changing as we exit his new rooms.

I move towards the main ingress of the Red Letter Hotel Florence, maneuvering through the underground halls, then up the stairs and through the vaulted upper ways like I still own the place. Florian is alert as he watches me, even with a touch of admiration, as we walk in silence through the halls.

Until we get to the vast main entrance.

And I see my Vampires, ready to be released.

They’re all naked; of course they are. Three men and four women, they’ve been put in Florian’s signature thin golden bracelets and neck-torque, which he controls via his power. All of them have a vacant look in their eyes. As if they stare at nothing, as if their whole world has become nothing, they’ve already been a number of days under Florian’s thrall.

And I know what that feels like, as he comes near and they all shiver awake.

They do, and they don’t. They only wake from their emptiness enough to register he is here, and move instantly to his side. As he motions for them all to go down upon their knees before him, they do, without hesitation. Opening his dressing gown, Florian unzips his fly and motions for the closest man to start sucking his cock.

He does, eagerly—again, with no hesitation whatsoever.

It’s disgusting, as I watch Florian flaunt his hold over my Vampires, right in front of me. I know for a fact the man he’s got sucking him, a Sicilian Vampire by the name of Truvio Bernini, isn’t the slightest bit homosexual.

And yet, when one is under Florian’s thrall, a person will do anything for his approval and touch. Because Florian has one of the worst powers I’ve ever come across; he can make anyone of lesser mind and power crave him with just a single wave of his magic, and a glance from his eyes.

It’s not just a craving, either; it’s a deep-seated desire for him to approve of everything one is doing, and everything one is. So much that those under his thrall will do anything for him, regardless of how much they scream inside, knowing it’s not what they want.

And Florian gains pleasure—and more power in his magic—by making people do things that make them die, deep inside. Die, until they waste away into true death.

Not from a broken body—but from a broken heart.

It’s disgusting, as I make myself witness now, because I know the feeling of everything my Vampire is experiencing, sucking Florian’s cock but not even being remotely attracted to him.

As Florian pets Truvio’s head, urging him to go faster, a mean little smile takes his face. He looks at me, giving me the full show of everything he’s put my people through in the past few days, not to mention giving me a preview of everything he’s going to put me through soon.

Not only that, but he treated me like this for centuries, as part of Emiliana’s trade deal. He could never keep me when he left the Florence Hotel to return home to Monaco; but even a few days under Florian’s thrall is enough to drive a person mad.

I know all these Vampires will need deep counseling once they come home. But they will come home; I can already feel Devi and Curio waiting outside to get them across Realms to the Summers estate, where they can be rehabilitated after everything they’ve gone through.

I’m staying here, however, and will wear those little gold ornaments soon. As Florian finishes, coming into Truvio’s mouth and making him swallow it just for spite, he gestures Truvio back down to his knees like a dog before him. Zipping up, Florian strokes my Vampire’s hair.

Then smacks him across the face—spilling him to the floor.

“That was badly done,” Florian says, making sure Truvio takes it to heart that Florian’s unsatisfied. “Think about how poorly you performed that, right now, and how displeased it made me. And don’t stop thinking about it. Ever.”

I set my jaw as I watch the hope inside my Vampire’s eyes die. Truvio hangs his head; I can feel the shame that boils off him now, that his Master was so displeased with his work. Florian gives me one last gloating look, then motions for Julian to remove all their bangles. He does, going down the line and taking them off, one by one.

My people look confused as they glance around, as if waking from an endless trance. It’s a trance of nightmares, I know, as they look up at Florian, cringe, then see me.

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